hobo

nounverbattested in dialogue

United Kingdom//ˈhəʊ.bəʊ//
United States//ˈhoʊ.boʊ//
Australia//ˈhəʉ.bəʉ//

A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.

noun

1
A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.
He’d heard the word hobo used for travelers, heard it was short for homeward bound, or homeless boy, or Hoboken having something to do with New Jersey.
2
Any migratory laborer, whether homeless or not.
3
A kind of large handbag.
Avoid bulky styles such as duffle sacks, buckets, doctors' satchels, and hobos.

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly a contraction of ho, boy or the dialectal English term hawbuck (“lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin”).

verb

1
To be a hobo, tramp, bum etc.
Joe idly hoboed through half the country till he realized hoboing never gets you anywhere in life.

Forms

plural: hobos, hoboes
past tense: hoboed
past participle: hoboed
present participle: hoboing
third person singular: hobos

Hobbs · A surname originating as a patronymic.hobby · An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time.Hobby · An English surname transferred from the given name.

hobo · A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.

hockey · Any of a family of sports in which hockey sticks are used to…Hockey · A surname.Hodges · A surname originating as a patronymic.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.